Pre-Indictment & Pre-Charging Representation

Understanding the Need for Pre-Indictment Representation

If you are being investigated for a crime, or if you believe that you will be charged with a crime, the best thing you can do to defend yourself is to hire a knowledgeable attorney to represent you before you are charged. Pre-indictment and pre-charging representation could result in the ending of a police investigation and no charges ever being brought against you.

In most criminal cases, a case is assigned to a detective once a police report is made. Police detectives start their investigation by:

• Reviewing the information gathered up to that point
• Trying to contact the suspect for an interrogation and further investigation
• Interrogating suspicious suspects

Police interrogations and surveillance techniques are designed to accomplish one thing: to induce a suspect to make statements that will ultimately be used against them in court.

Investigators are trained to convince a suspect to enter into an interrogation by calling it an interview and telling the suspect that they "just want to get their side of the story." These tactics are designed to build a rapport with a suspect so that they will waive their Miranda rights (the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney) and agree to speak with the detective. A police interrogation can last for hours, and every word spoken will be dissected and could be used against you.

How can a Phoenix pre-charging lawyer help me?

When the attorneys at MayesTelles PLLC represent a person during the investigation stage, the first thing we do is get between you and the police. Our lawyers will contact police investigators and make sure they know that you are being represented by an attorney. We will also evaluate any request made by police investigators to interrogate, evaluate, or test you, and we will ensure that you do not compromise your position by participating in any interrogation or evaluation that will harm your interest.

In addition to avoiding police contact and risks of you giving up important rights, the attorneys at MayesTelles PLLC evaluate all police techniques, such as confrontation calls, requests for biological evidence, and wiretaps, in order to advise you about what you need to wary of and how the police will try to build a case against you. Our attorneys will also contact the prosecutor in charge of evaluating your case for official charges.

By communicating directly with the charging attorney, the lawyers at MayesTelles PLLC will advocate your position and encourage the prosecutor that official charges are not in the interest of justice due to a lack of evidence, or due reasonable unlikelihood of conviction at trial.

The attorneys at MayesTelles PLLC can evaluate the allegations against you and to communicate directly with the prosecutor as to what the appropriate charges, if any, should be. For example, if the police requests that a person be charged with a felony, but the facts show that the charges should be a misdemeanor. Our attorneys will discuss the discrepancies directly with the prosecutor to maximize the possibility that you will not be overcharged.

Hire a Phoenix Pre-Indictment Attorney Immediately

Once a person is charged, it is very difficult to convince a prosecutor to dismiss the case or to go back and undo any mistakes made during the investigative and charging phases. Moreover, the alleged offender faces serious consequences, such as pretrial incarceration (sometimes with no possibility of a bond or bail), having to post a bond or bail, and having to defeat their case at a jury trial. In many circumstances, all of these hardships can be avoided by having a competent attorney to represent you before you ever are charged.

For more information about pre-indictment and pre-charging representation, call and speak with an attorney at MayesTelles PLLC right away.